Ministry of Justice Submits Arrest Consent Bill for No Woong-rae on Bribery Charges to National Assembly

Arrest Approval Bill Must Pass National Assembly Plenary Session for 'Warrant Substantive Review' to Be Possible

Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker No Woong-rae, who has been subject to a pre-arrest warrant request on charges of bribery and illegal political funding, held a press conference at the National Assembly Communication Office on the 14th, stating, "The prosecution even took out condolence money envelopes and fabricated bundles of cash," and claimed, "The cash found at my residence has nothing to do with the charges the prosecution alleges." [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] The Ministry of Justice submitted a request for the arrest consent of Democratic Party lawmaker No Woong-rae, who is accused of bribery and other charges, to the National Assembly on the 14th.

The Ministry of Justice announced that it received the request for arrest consent from the National Assembly in accordance with the Seoul Central District Court judge's demand for arrest consent regarding the bribery and violation of the Political Funds Act cases involving Representative No.

Active lawmakers have immunity from arrest, so the arrest consent request must be approved by the National Assembly for the court to proceed with the warrant review. The Speaker of the National Assembly reports the request at the first plenary session after receiving it, and the plenary session votes between 24 hours after the report and within 72 hours. If the arrest consent request is approved, the court can proceed with the warrant review; if not approved, the court will dismiss the arrest warrant.

The Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 2 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Young-chul) filed a pre-arrest warrant request against Representative No on the 12th on charges of bribery, mediation of bribery, and violation of the Political Funds Act. This is the first time since the launch of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration that the prosecution has requested an arrest warrant for an active lawmaker.

According to the prosecution, Representative No is accused of receiving 60 million won in five installments from businessman Park, from February to December 2020, under the pretexts of assistance with various projects, mediation of permits and personnel for public officials, and election expenses.

Park, who provided money to Representative No, is known to have given 940 million won in illegal political funds and mediation fees to former Democratic Party Deputy Secretary-General Lee Jung-geun, who was previously indicted and detained.

The prosecution believes that Park requested favors related to the expedited Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's real demand verification process for the logistics complex development project, support for solar power projects, and personnel appointments of the local tax office chief and executives of Korea East-West Power Co., Ltd., while delivering money to Representative No.

The prosecution began a forced investigation by conducting a search and seizure of Representative No's National Assembly office and residence on the 16th of last month, imposed a travel ban on Representative No, summoned former aides for questioning, and summoned Representative No as a suspect for investigation on the 6th.

During the search of Representative No's residence, the prosecution discovered bundles of cash stored in a wardrobe and secured the cash through an additional search on the 18th of last month. They have been investigating the source of the funds since then.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.